Bimmerbill

Brian, that is a very nice car, love the pictures. It appears to have been a project that you put your heart and soul into and now you have something to be very proud of. I have one question on the rear aluminum sway bar mounts, are they very noisy on the street?
Thanks

- V -

iTrader: (1)

Never too late to make one! Car looks great, would love to see the journey getting it there. Also I assume you're being sarcastic about the exhaust being extremely quiet? lol

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

I’ve been thinking about it a lot these past few months. I need to organize all of my pictures and put them in one place so I can make it happen. Everything is currently spread across multiple computers and hard drives I’ve had in the past 12 years.

I was actually being serious about the exhaust being extremely quiet. My Jun BL titanium setup was very loud and aggressive. It was the best exhaust I’ve heard on a 2JZ-GE. When I put the Borla mufflers on, I left the piping the same. For some reason the mufflers were dramatically quieter than my other set and I’ve hated it ever since. It’s a little bit louder than stock. They came with 5 inch tips so they look like they’d be loud. 🤣

Duck05

Now that you broke the seal on picture uploads, post some of your LS 430 too!!! (On the LS430 thread, of course…).

1997Soarer

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the kind words. Yeah this is basically the sum of 17 years and counting

Noisy? No. Which is kinda surprising because all the control arms are Ikeya and they are solid or spherical bushings. The trunk is gutted but I have full interior, just in case that plays a part in why I don't have any noise transmitting to the cabin.
Everything does make driving on not-so-great pavement that much harsher tho. Especially at slow speeds, or in temps below 50*F, where the coilovers aren't absorbing hits and just transmitting them up to the chassis. Same for the tires.

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

I actually have an LS430 picture thread featuring my old car crew and my SC300, GX470, and my sister’s LS before she really started modding it.

The pictures of my SC in that thread show my setup from late 2010 to 2014. I forgot I put pictures of it in there. I had black 18 inch SSR Professors and the custom 50/50 red and clear taillights. The overall look is similar to my current wheels but the newer wheels are wider with big tires.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...re-thread.html

Blkexcoupe

iTrader: (8)

That is an interesting strut bar, which brand is it?

I have the carbing bar on my car. it was such a pain to put on, I don't even know if I would be able to take it off. lol

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

This is probably a stupid question but how come your engine bay looks so empty and clean compared to my 1993 SC300? There’s just so many wires and junk under my hood, despite my engine bay being mostly stock, aside from an intake. It’s just so messy looking.

My 01 GS300’s engine bay looks more like your bay than my SC’s.

Blkexcoupe

iTrader: (8)

98-00 SC300 uses the same VVT-I motor as the 01 GS300.

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

That’s true. Is it a VVT-I thing? Those engine bays look so much cleaner than my messy 93 SC.

Blkexcoupe

iTrader: (8)

Yeah, the vvt-i motor has no distributor and wiring since it uses coil packs. That alone frees up a lot of space.

Also, the fuel system has no return, so the charcoal canister isn't in the engine bay near the passenger corner.

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

Oh okay. That explains why the passenger side has so much more free space. The GS300 was my first VVT-i 2JZ car last year and I thought it looked so weird under the hood.

1997Soarer

iTrader: (1)

It's an imec bar. Designed for the Supra NAs. They had a tubular GTE bar as well, that kinda looks like the current TRD Supra strut bar, but it's a bit more plain in its design.
From what I can find out about imec, they had a connection to ARC back in 1990s-2000s. Around the mid to late 2000s ARC stopped making parts for European cars and imec stopped doing stuff for Japanese models. ARC went bankrupt around 2009-10 (ended up restarting as ARC Brazing) but imec kept going until at least the mid 2010s. That was the last time I saw their website.

This bar is also a pain to install. And take off. The first time I had to jack the car up to get it on. The second time, I found that I could get it off SLOWLY by lifting one side a bit more than the other, and to put it back on I had to do the exact same thing in reverse.